The judges really need to cut down on their antics, stop interrupting/joining in/dancing with the contestants and just really bring it back to basics where someone comes in, sings a song and they critique them. Occasional fun stuff is fine, but there's just been an overload of it.

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I gotta let it go, let it slip from the tip of my hands~~~~I'll watch it as it goes, keep it in my heart no matter where I am

Apparently not. And yeah sometimes those shenanigans last through-out the performance and just go on for way too long. One can only hope they will be better during the live shows, at least they won't have full range of freedom with the time constraints and the shows having a format they need to follow.

No problem, enjoy when you do! Will be catching up on the latest episode soon.

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I gotta let it go, let it slip from the tip of my hands~~~~I'll watch it as it goes, keep it in my heart no matter where I am

I don't know why they refused to show us any of Ashley's Hollywood performances

But there were some great performances. As far as I can tell, all the contestants whose auditions were posted here made it to the Showcase round. I'll be watching that one in the next few days.

Ryan's limited presence was quite evident both during the auditions and Hollywood week. Bobby Bones (the in-house mentor) filled a bit of his role during the latter.

A negative note, Hollywood week became Backstories 2.0, they pretty much showed more of the same stories again for a lot of the contestants. And that really affected how much of the performances they showed. I very much would rather see more of the latter. I mean we were already saying those stories take too much of the audition episodes, and now they actually drag into Hollywood week.

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I gotta let it go, let it slip from the tip of my hands~~~~I'll watch it as it goes, keep it in my heart no matter where I am

So, I watched most of the Hawaii performances, Jeremiah is still my favorite! I think this season has tremendous talent, I haven't been this excited about Idol since seasons 7 & 8. He slayedLandslide. I truly think he can be the first openly-gay Idol.

My dream top two would have to be Jeremiah & Madison, ATM.

I'm also loving Ashley too! ETA: I have loved her since the auditions. Norah Jones is

I will wait a while to make an official Jeremiah Thread, but I definitely wanna be the one to start it

I'm halfway through the Hawaii performances, they are delivering some great performances for sure. And some were shaky at best, the cuts so far make sense. Jeremiah has been consistently great so far And sure you can start it! Top 10 could work, which is in a couple of weeks.

Ashley's audition was so good Was glad that at least in the Showcase performances, they can't pick and choose which contestants they show

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I gotta let it go, let it slip from the tip of my hands~~~~I'll watch it as it goes, keep it in my heart no matter where I am

OMG x3! Jeremiah sang To Make You Feel My Love. OMG, I first fell in love with that song when Kris [Allen] sang it in Season 8. It is going to be the song that will be my boyfriend & I's first dance song at our wedding I just have a whole lotta history with that song...

Onto the contestants:

I really enjoyed Ashley & Madison. I don't think Uché (he's way too dramatic, IMO) or Logan (his performance was weak) will make it through. Laci was probably my fave female of the night. I flippin' love Alejandro and the things he does with his guitar (I don't know what they're called )

That was a lovely performance And it was nice that the contestants came in in the end and did some backup singing.

Late posting this but thought I'd post it anyway. Disney Night was interesting, so was Rebel Wilson's mentoring xD She actually has some good comments for the contestants. Some of the choices were pretty slow for such a hyped-up night. I thought Walker's When She Loved Me from "Toy Story 2" was one of the best ones that night, some great piano playing too and beautiful vocals. Uche (I 2 I from "Goofy Movie"), Madison (How Far I’ll Go from "Moana") and Laine (Oo-De-Lally from "Robin Hood") had fun performances. I know Madison's isn't an easy song to sing live and she did well on it. Alejandro did his usual and showed musicality on Remember Me from "Coco".

Uche was a fun performer, he would have had a blast during Queen week, it would have been interesting seeing him work with Adam.

Will be watching Queen night probably tomorrow.

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I gotta let it go, let it slip from the tip of my hands~~~~I'll watch it as it goes, keep it in my heart no matter where I am

Queen night was fun. As expected Adam gave great advice and really helped the contestants bring out better performances. Jeremiah and Laci were probably the best of the night. Jeremiah did amazing with Who Wants to Live Forever. Walter was good too, I liked that he tried to move more and used the whole stage. Madison continues to give powerful vocals but she is just not connecting with what the songs are about. Alyssa is kind of the same, great vocals but there's just something missing. Alejandro, while always unique and artistic, his vocals are probably the weakest. Wade performed with passion but it was a bit all over the place. And finally Laine... is staying in his lane, while it has been working for him, delivering consistently good performances, it has become pretty much the same week in and week out. As for the eliminations, I think everyone, including Wade, was expecting he would go home, but he seems to have a strong fanbase. Alyssa just has not been connecting with the audience so kind of expected she was B2. I really wished Walker wasn't eliminated though! He's had some really good performances and as we saw from this night, he had the potential to grow even more.

Woodstock/Inspirational Showstoppers: Unexpectedly, Wade and Alejandro had their best night with this one, and pretty much topped the others with both perfect song choices and great performances. Madison continues to smile throughout an emotional song, she did much better in I Surrender though. Coming off a strong week, both Jeremiah and Laci faltered in their songs. Jeremiah came out strong with Swing Low, Sweet Chariot but then it seems he started in the wrong key with Somewhere and it took him a long time to recover, he did finish out strong. No special comments for Laine, he delivered solid performances of songs in the same genre he's been doing. He did try to add in some movement for Johnny B. Goode which was fine (and prompted another one of Katy's "episodes"). Surprising B2 with Laci and Jeremiah, because they were supposed favourites despite their faltering tonight. Laci was probably the one saved to give the Top 5 more than one female and also in the long run, she might be more marketable.

General note, it seems this has become Standing O and virtually zero constructive criticism season where literally every performance and singer is "outstanding". Those contestants are not getting any mentorship outside of the guest mentors, which thankfully have been great so far.

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I gotta let it go, let it slip from the tip of my hands~~~~I'll watch it as it goes, keep it in my heart no matter where I am

The Songs of Elton JohnAlejandro Aranda – Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word
Laci Kaye Booth – Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting
Laine Hardy – Something About the Way You Look Tonight (Laine has performed this song in the past)
Madison VanDenburg – Your Song
Wade Cota – Rocket Man

Bobby Bones PickAlejandro Aranda – No Woman No Cry by Bob Marley and the Wailers
Laci Kaye Booth – The House that Built Me by Miranda Lambert
Laine Hardy – Can’t You See by the Marshall Tucker Band
Madison VanDenburg – What About Us by Pink
Wade Cota – You Are The Best Thing by Ray Lamontagne